Christie Promises 'Gentle Pressure' on Power Cos. for Power Restoration [VIDEO]

Gov. Chris Christie on Monday said he would keep "my type of gentle pressure" on the heads of New Jersey utilities until electricity has been restored to all residents.

Speaking in Manville that afternoon, after touring the flood-ravaged borough and a Red Cross emergency shelter housing about 300 area residents, Christie said more than 600,000 New Jerseyans remain without power Monday after service had been restored to about 250,000.

"I think they're doing pretty well, but the reason I'm talking to them is that I don't want them to lose focus," he said.

Latest outage figures in Bernards Township as if 8:54 p.m.

As of shortly before 9 p.m. on Monday, the number of JCP&L households in Basking Ridge without power was 2,558, only a slight reduction from earlier in the day. Most of Bernardsville's power outages also had not been addressed, with 1,299 households still officially listed as without power on the JCP&L website.

However, JCP&L reported that the number of customers in Liberty Corner without power had been reduced from 81 to 2 by Monday night. And Bedminster customers left in the dark, which had been in excess of 1,100 earlier in the day, was reportedly down to 485 by Monday night.

During his visit in Manville, Christie also said he had filed for disaster relief funding with the Obama Administration before the hurricane, which has been approved by the president.

"The Obama Administration has been fabulous to deal with on this—the president deserves credit for putting really competent people in those jobs and they're executing very, very well," Christie added.

He said the state will be compiling damage estimates to submit to FEMA for reimbursement.